Deaf person entitled to traffic signal system

Verdict: Hearing impaired are entitled to reimbursement of the statutory health insurance on a light signal system.

(30.04.2010) People who are very hard of hearing are entitled to reimbursement of a traffic signal if the hearing aid is no longer sufficient, the Federal Social Court in Kassel ruled. A traffic signal is used so that hearing impaired people can hear the doorbell. When the doorbell rings, appropriate light signals are given to allow the doorbell to be heard. The judgment can be found under the file number: Az: B 3 KR 5/09 R..

In the specific case, a highly ill-suffering cash-desk patient had sued because the AOK Lower Saxony refused to reimburse the cost of a light system. In 2005, the applicant submitted a decree and requested a cost estimate. The plaintiff insisted that health insurances generally fund disabled people with auxiliaries. But the health insurance rejected the request.

However, the judges at the highest social court ruled that health insured persons who can not hear the bell in their home despite hearing aids due to a high degree of deafness have a claim to the supply of a traffic signal. So the health insurance company has to pay the costs for the installation. In a traffic signal for claimants disabled people is an aid in the sense of § 33 SGB V and § 31 SGB IX. (Sb)